SullivanArc Garden Tour to focus on Roscoe

ROSCOE, NY — There are a couple of big changes in the Sullivan Arc Garden Tour this year, the fourth year of its existence. One change is that participants can choose to take a seat on a 55 passenger bus and have a guided tour of the selected gardens on display, or they can embark on a self-guided tour of the gardens.

The event is sponsored by Sullivan Renaissance, SullivanArc and the Rockland-Roscoe Chamber of Commerce. The bus tour will feature speakers: Vivian Multari-Ginsberg, the horticultural community liaison with Sullivan Renaissance, Susan Diamond the executive director at the SullivanArc Foundation, and Elaine Fettig, president of the Roscoe-Rockland Chamber of Commerce.

Kathleen Capozzoli, the office manager of Sullivan Renaissance, said those who sign up for the bus ride will also be treated to two “secret gardens,” that won’t be available to those who choose the self-guided tour. There are a total of 11 gardens on display. The bus tour starts at the Tennanah Lake Golf and Tennis Club, and after the tour, participants and volunteers are invited to a complimentary wine and cheese reception at the club.

Also new this year, instead of focusing on a relatively large region of Sullivan County, the tour is focusing on one community, Roscoe. Fettig said the chamber reached out to several gardening experts in the area who in turn contacted the owners of various private gardens, most of whom agreed to take part in the tour.

Last year, Roscoe won a national contest to become named the Ultimate Fishing Town, and the hamlet has also won two consecutive Golden Feather Awards, the highest award from Sullivan Renaissance. Fetting said, “Now we’re not only the ultimate fishing town, we’re also the ultimate flower town. We’re trying to figure out what we’ll be next year, we don’t k now yet, but we’re working on it.

Proceeds from the tour will go to support the horticultural program at SullivanArc, a not-for-profit agency dedicated to providing support and services to over 850 individuals with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities and to their families.

Ari Mir-Pontier, a member of the SullivanArc board, said that a component of the horticultural program is the Hemming Farm, which was bequeathed to the organization by a couple whose son is a consumer at SullivanArc, with the hope that one day their son could once again work on the farm. The hope is that one day Hemming Farm will be a working farm.

Tickets for the garden tour are available at the following locations: Catskill Harvest Market in Liberty; The Cutting Garden in Youngsville; the Delaware Valley Farm & Garden in Callicoon: Everlasting Spring in White Sulphur Springs; Hillside Greenhouses in Liberty; Monticello Greenhouses in Monticello; Vita's Farm Market in Jeffersonville; Tennanah Lake Golf & Tennis Club in Tennanah Lake.